Don’t just drown it in tonic. A new range of boutique brands is changing the way we drink the spirit

To understand just how trendy gin is right now, you only have to go to Dabbous
in London. Currently one of the hardest restaurants at which to get a table
in Britain, its downstairs cocktail bar stocks 15 different brands of the
spirit compared to only a couple of different vodkas. When I visit, co-owner
Oskar Kinberg is making his signature cocktail, a Dillusion, mixing gin with
elderflower cordial, lemon juice, cucumber and dill.

“It’s what happened to vodka ten years ago,” he says. “Everyone’s trying to be
quirky and make different styles of the spirit. It works better with